he stated coldly. "I'll show you my identification--" He brought his
hands down and reached into his jacket, but Roger stepped over quickly
and brought the barrel of his gun down sharply on the man's head. He
slumped to the floor with a groan and was still.

"What did you do that for?" growled Tom.

Roger didn't reply. He reached down into the unconscious man's jacket
and pulled out a small paralo-ray gun stuck in the top of his waistband.
"Some identification," Roger drawled.

"Thanks, pal," said Tom sheepishly. "Let's search him. Maybe we can find
out who he is."

As Roger bent over the fallen man, there was a commotion in the hangar
outside the ship, followed by the sound of footsteps clattering up the
ladders to the ports. Seconds later, Astro, followed by Tim Rush and a
squad of enlisted spacemen, surged into the compartment. Rush stopped
short when he saw the man on the floor.

"Great jumping Jupiter," gasped the petty officer, then whirled on Tom
and Roger. "You space-blasted idiots!" he shouted. "You good-for-nothing
harebrained, moronic dumbbells! Do you know what you've done?"

Tom and Roger stared at each other in amazement. Astro, standing to one
side, looked confused.

"Sure we know what we've done," declared Tom. "We found this guy in here
copying secrets from some blueprints there on the desk and--"